Losing one’s freedom of knowledge results in an individual never discovering their true potential

Comments (0)

Transcript of Losing one’s freedom of knowledge results in an individual never discovering their true potential

Absence of an authentic world and human experience"I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin." (Huxley 240)

"Soma"A perfect way to avoid danger and maintain peace because people can simply avoid trouble in their lives with soma.

Conditioning It creates an individual's personality and interests so that he can never live up to his true potentialA perfect utopia with peace and absolute order can only be achieved by paying the price of one’s freedom, and yet, such a world is still an illusion. "People are never alone now... we make them hate solitude: and we arrange their lives so that it's almost impossible for them to ever have it." (Huxley 235)

A tool to distract its citizens from the troubles that they encounter."If anything unpleasant should somehow happen...there is always soma to give you a holiday from the facts." (Huxley 237)Conditioning is an illusion that creates a "perfect society." In exchange for unity, people lose their individuality. Losing one’s freedom of knowledge results in an individual not discovering his true potential Knowledge equals power and order, thus,the government makes knowledge and facts a priority, neglecting any need for culture Unrecognized Potential “I’m thinking of a queer feeling I sometimes get, a feeling that I've got something important to say and the power to say it- only I don’t know what it is, and I can’t make any use of the power.” ( Huxley 228)Since the government "conditions" their citizens, they control their knowledge and that's why many citizens don't get the chance to reach their true potential. Conclusion SpecializationWhen John the savage asked his mother Linda how chemicals were made, replied "I don't know, I never did any chemistry. My job was always with embryos" (Huxley 130)She only knows about what she has been "conditioned" to do.Importance of Knowledge “Knowledge was the highest good, truth the supreme value; all the rest was secondary and subordinate.” (Huxley 228)Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyThis raises the question of whether it is better to live in a totally safe and perfect society or a society that's not as safe but still offers a genuine human experience.Violent Passion Surrogate (VPS)A solution that the World government substitutes for the need of strong emotions in a human's life. "Regularly once a month. We flood the whole system with adrenin. It's the complete physiological equivalent of fear and rage. All the tonic effects of murdering... without any of the inconveniences."" (Huxley 234)Just like everything in the World State, the VPS is a shallow substitute for a genuine human experience in exchange for order.The World government diminishes solitude because it poses too great a threat to a stable society as seen in Bernard and Hemholtz.Brave New World is supposedly a perfect world but it only appears so because of the illusions and conditioning that maintain the twisted order the World Government creates. As the people's lives are pre-destined, they lose with them freedom, religion, science, and most importantly opportunities to be great. These two themes illustrate how pre-disposition and loss of freedom usually accounts for individuals losing the ability to realize their true potential. Brave New World is set in a society where the human population is addressed as a whole and therefore, individuality, a unique human factor, is sacrificed.Theme 1Theme 2 Mustapha Mond said "One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them." (Huxley 235)Illusions of a Perfect World